> Hi everyone, > > I wonder if someone could clear up an issue I'm having with ls -c (sorting > files by ctime). As I understand it, the ctime is only updated when file > status information (such as permissions) changes, or a file is completely > recreated. It looks to me though, like the ctime is being updated every > time the contents of a file change.
You misunderstand ctime, as specified by POSIX. See http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap04.html, section 4.7, and various other places within POSIX. ctime is required to reflect any change to a file's metadata _or contents_. Also, while mtime can be arbitrarily changed (think utimes()), ctime is supposed to be an accurate side effect of file modification that cannot be spoofed. > > :.________________ > CONFIDENTIALITY : This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and > may be privileged. If you are not a named recipient, please notify the > sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to another person, use > it for any purpose or store or copy the information in any medium. Disclaimers like this to a public mailing list are not wise; some people refuse to respond to messages with such a disclaimer. -- Eric Blake -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/
